<p>Do you study a lot or do you just see the information and get understand it the first time? Other opinions are acceptable.</p>
<p>Both. IMHO, natural intelligence is only about half of what makes you “smart”. The other half is hard work and determination.
For example, a middle school IQ test put a friend and I in the top 1%. Except, not to toot my own horn, I’m considered much smarter than he is by both people who know us well and those who don’t. He doesn’t do anything productive in his free time; he’s typically playing League of Legends as soon as he finished his homework. I, on the other hand, invest my free time into academic pursuits, which in turn make me smarter.
Another point worth mentioning: those who aren’t generally considered smart early on (by IQ) typically don’t push themselves to achieve academically. They resign to the fact that they aren’t “smart”. However, they don’t realize that hard work can take them places, even if their natural IQ won’t help them.</p>
<p>I’m interested to see if people agree or disagree with my analysis.</p>
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In my case it’s more of the latter. I’m not very smart, though, so I often need to study and still don’t, and that’s when I do badly.</p>
<p>I think it’s more of the latter. But not getting things doesn’t necessarily makes a person dumb. </p>
<p>im not smart in any ways that matter. but some of my friends are smart in all the ways that matter. that’s in the way of being able to express their thoughts quickly and well in writing and doing so in a way that makes you break out in smiles all the time, so it’s really just a pleasure to read, and you just want to save snippets of their emails or forum posts to your hard drive and then back up them to your three external hard drives because they’re the most precious things you ever read or anyone ever said to you. they really have wonderful personalities, and a wonderful way of relating to the world. they absorb all the good elements in things like a sponge, and the bad things sides to things doesn’t leave a trace in them. so they’re lots of fun to be around, they have a creative energy to them i guess whereas i don’t, and it really makes everything they set themselves to do so interesting to watch. they can also reference whatever they watched or read supremely well, which is what helps make their writing so good. they have all the good qualities in abundance and none of the bad ones.</p>
<p>im not smart in that way but those are the best things that make someone smart, any other way someone is smart doesn’t compare. actually, it compares but it just compares so poorly it would be embarrassing to make that comparison.</p>
<p>Innate intelligence matters more than anything else in the grand scheme of things, but most people have “enough” innate intelligence just by virtue of being human. A lack of innate intelligence relative to other people often won’t hurt you very much because (except for in extreme cases) we all have about the same intelligence level. If some other person has learned something, chances are I can too, but I might have to work harder than they did. </p>
<p>I think that smart is smart and that work ethic and what you do with your intelligence is something else entirely. I believe that people who are smart are able to grasp new concepts quickly and communicate effectively, have a large vocabulary, and are able to analyze situations and problems and use logic to reach solutions. People who are truly “smart” are often considered bad teachers - maybe even thought of as “dumb” because of it - because they cannot understand why someone isn’t getting something so simple. For these people, trying to explain a “difficult” concept is like trying to describe what water tastes like. There isn’t any explanation, it just is, why don’t you get that? You just do it. I think that studying a lot expands your knowledge, but it doesn’t necessarily make you smart. Smart people are the ones who are the first to catch on, who don’t need to be taught things ten times over - usually the people who look incredibly bored in class. It is possible to train yourself to understand things more quickly and, in that way, you can become smarter, but I personally think that what was earlier called “natural intelligence” is what makes someone smart.</p>
<p>If it’s what makes you smarter, then it’s definitely both. You’re not looked upon as an automatic smart person though, there are many concepts of the term, smart. The strategies you gave of course raises your potential, but if you’re saying on academic success, for the most part it’s just being a studious instead of a smart person. I am positively sure you know someone who has a 4.0 but is actually a doofus. (I’m not saying that valedictorians are dumb, there are many intelligent and studious valedictorians, hands down). </p>
<p>I consider people who are “smart” outside of school for the most part of their actions, words, overall what the person is doing and saying. The only thing I consider people who are smart, school wise, are standardized tests, they measure potential, kinda like what DigitalKing said with IQ. </p>
<p>But to overall answer your question, yes those strategies can make you smarter and have more potential, but you won’t automatically be assumed as an intelligent person by other individiuals.</p>
<p>I’m smart because I can get a 160 on Quiz Up</p>
<p>I work hard for my grades. Except in English, because that’s easy for me :P</p>
<p>I have to work hard so I guess I’m not smart.</p>
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<p>I have about 8 missing assignments, including 2 quizzes, in English and have around a 102.5%. Grade inflation saves the day once again!</p>
<p>I wish my school inflated grade… they deflate them and make it impossible to get A’s, especially high ones</p>
<p>Hmm I guess it would be my determination to learn. I love learning new thing except for language arts I abhor that damn subject.</p>
<p>No. Just a plain average joe :(</p>
<p>I don’t like any definition of smart, to be honest. I think it could be a sense of understanding, whether it’s from hard work or through natural understanding. No one is born smart, but no one is born completely dumb either.</p>
<p>Personally, “smart” is a bland term. A person can be smart but not intelligent, knowledgable, but not clever. etc. etc. Smart, I assume in your context means that the person is intelligent and bright and knowledgeable. But can be one but not the latter… What makes me “smart” can be thrown back to genetics, but also how I was raised, what I learned, where I went to school, who my friends were, etc. So it is difficult until you evaluate all of the variables…</p>
<p>But I retain information if I know where it derived from, if it has pictures/ color, and if I type it. Sometimes seeing/hearing/reading it once, I can remember it, and I think that makes me bright… I am mildly smart, but I have to work for it… sometimes…</p>
<p>This is a difficult question. I could write a paper on it lololol</p>
<p>but I agree with @caitiann I mean, look at sheldon from the Big Bang Theory… </p>
<p>I completely disagree with awakeningvenus’ statement that no one is born smart. There are children who very quickly pick up the skills that they are being taught: crawling, talking, walking, recognizing shapes and colors, reading. I think that the rate you learn things as an infant/toddler is highly indicative of your natural intelligence and therefore your “smarts” - or at least it has been in my personal experience.</p>
<p>@caitiann
Haha, I didn’t mean that to be taken into the literal sense for every possible situation, you know. I have read articles about child prodigies. I meant more generally. I just don’t feel like your initial ability to understand things should be the only indication of someone being “smart.” If I’m born with a low IQ, that doesn’t mean that I can’t be unable to take hard classes if I work really hard. (I don’t actually know my IQ.)</p>
<p>@awakeningvenus yes, but see I think that would make you hard working, not smart. I think that smart people don’t have to work as hard as others because they just get it - they’re just smart.</p>